The VC men's tennis team opened defense of their 2024 state title with a 5-0 sweep over Fullerton in the first round of the 3C2A Southern California Regional Playoffs Tuesday at the VC Tennis Center. The back end of the top-seeded Pirates' singles line up, Ariitea Cotti-Helme and Leo Pham, completed the victory after all three VC doubles teams produced wins over the No. 7-seeded Hornets.
Max Beaudry and Manolo Vanbesien got the day started right with a shutout win at No. 3 doubles, 8-0. Yusen Sato and Haru Nakayama defeated their opponents on Court 2, 8-1 and Rafael Matias and Yanis Guerrout earned an 8-5 win in the No. 1 slot to put Ventura ahead 3-0.
Cotti-Helme produced a love, love victory in No. 5 singles and Pham won on Court 6, 6-0, 6-1 to complete the sweep. Nakayama almost finished his match and led 6-0, 5-0 when play ended while Sato and Guerrout were also up a set. Matias dropped the first set at No. 1, but led in the second when the Pirates won the match.
Ventura (14-3) will next host No. 4 Irvine Valley, who defeated No. 5 Santa Barbara 5-0 on Tuesday. The match will be on Tuesday April 15 at the VC Tennis Center beginning at 2:00 pm.
Ventura 5, Fullerton 0
Doubles
1. Rafael Matias/Yanis Guerrout (VC) def. Sebastian Koster/Felix Jayamaha (FC), 8-5
2. Yusen Sato/Haru Nakayama (VC) def. David Gutierrez/Matthew Doria (FC), 8-1
3. Max Beaudry/Manolo Vanbesien (VC) def. Joseph Chatters/Benjamin Koker (FC), 8-0
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. Matias (VC) down vs. Koster (FC), 6-1, 2-4, DNF
2. Guerrout (VC) up vs. Gutierrez (FC), 6-3, 0-1, DNF
3. Sato (VC) up vs. Jayamaha (FC), 6-4, 1-0, DNF
4. Nakayama (VC) up vs. Doria (FC), 6-0, 5-0, DNF
5. Ariitea Cotti-Helme (VC) def. Chatters (FC), 6-0, 6-0
6. Leo Pham (VC) def. Ubaldo Gomez (FC), 6-0, 6-1
Order of Finish: 5, 6